


Super Nino Bros.

by inaudible_d



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Dead Creatures, M/M, People cursed as inanimate objects, cross-dressing, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 07:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4339991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inaudible_d/pseuds/inaudible_d
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nino and Masaki are brothers who are plumbers. One day, something happened to the Mushroom Kingdom and Princess Peach was kidnapped. Together, they’re adventuring the island to save Princess Peach from the villain’s evil hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Super Nino Bros.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for akhikaru for ninoexchange 2015 on [here](http://ninoexchange.livejournal.com/58114.html) (part 1) and [here](http://ninoexchange.livejournal.com/58576.html) (part 2).

“Nino, Nino, I have news for you!” Masaki came jumping on a quiet night after a long and hard day.

Nino didn’t budge, kept on cleaning and tidying up the house. He did glance at Masaki’s direction once, but that was all.

“Nino, this is big news!” Masaki insisted, pulling the side of Nino’s shirt to get his attention.

Nino winced at Masaki’s antics. He was a bit curious, actually, but yesterday Masaki had done the exact same thing and Nino had to sit down and listen seriously to his story that turned out to be about worms instead of something more important. Masaki had just found this gathering by the forest and they talked about how worms are useful to be used as a cure for, basically, everything. Nino would believe that if Masaki didn’t happen to go at least five times to use the toilet the next morning after he consumed said cure-for-everything.

So Nino kept on doing the chores, not because he wanted to, but because their house had looked more like a warehouse than a real house. Well, he and his little brother are plumbers, but that fact didn’t mean that they have to live in a house that’s so dirty and messed up they can’t even move around, did it?

But Masaki was a persistent person. He knew that his older brother would not listen to him whatever he’s trying to do, so he sat down on the top of a pile of boxes and started telling his brother the story.

“I was just going to the town to buy some groceries from the market,” he began, “when I saw this flock of people.”

“Here we go again...,” Nino murmured.

“I was attracted to that because in the middle of that there was a small man holding a piece of parchment,” Masaki continued.

“And here we go for the bullshit,” Nino mumbled, his hand holding a washcloth to clean the top of a cupboard.

“That small man said that Princess Peach was missing!” Masaki added in horror, “and to make it worse, she was kidnapped by some terrifying creatures! Those creatures also managed to curse all the people in the whole Mushroom Kingdom to be inanimate objects!”

Nino choked a laugh at Masaki’s last sentence. He put down his washcloth and came closer to Masaki.

“Masaki,” he started, “we are also people of Mushroom Kingdom, am I mistaken?” the tone he used was one that people would use to talk to a five years old kid.

“We are! But... we’re not in the town when those creatures came so we weren’t affected by the curse! I saw Ohno san’s cake shop was opened but no one was inside, and when I checked, I saw that people were actually there. But they’re not people, they’re this, I don’t know, stone-like creature. I got freaked out and ran back home.”

Nino sighed deeply. Masaki’s antics had gotten a little bit out of hand. He had to remind himself to open a new saving for taking him to the healer.

“The thing is, Nino,” Masaki said after taking a deep breath himself, “the man with parchment said, whoever able to bring Princess Peach back home and reverse the curse of those creatures will get cash prize. And they will also be crowned king! Can you imagine that? That would be awesome! I will be a king’s brother! I will be royalty!”

Nino was about to laugh at Masaki’s idea of him going to save the said princess, given the fact that his brother was a bit lunatic, but then he stopped.

“Wait, what do you mean king’s brother?” he eyed Masaki suspiciously.

“Because you will save the princess and be the king!” Masaki exclaimed excitedly, “I’m counting on you, brother! I know you can do it!”

If Masaki weren’t his brother, and taller than him, Nino would have thrown the guy out of the house right then and there and never let him in again.

~*~

One week later, Nino found himself following his brother to somewhere in the middle of the forest. Nino had refused at first when Masaki said that the new client lived in the middle of the forest, but he had to agree to go when Masaki said that the client was a terribly rich guy. Masaki said he was willing to pay however much they asked to be paid, as long as his plumbing problems were fixed. Nino wasn’t sure at first, but then Masaki showed him a pouch full of coins that the man had given as the advance payment.

In a normal situation, Nino would think twice before taking that kind of job because it was just too fishy. The thing was, it’s been a week since the princess was rumored to be kidnapped and they hadn’t gotten any client since then. Nino didn’t know if it was just coincidence or Masaki actually talked the truth about people turned into stones. It was just really weird because they would usually get at least one plumbing job a day, even though those were mostly small jobs, made them at least have a steady source of income.

They had been walking inside the forest for at least two hours by then and Nino, however eager in getting money, started to doubt his own brother. He knew they weren’t lost and repeating the same tracks because he had been keeping track by leaving small, worthless piece of nuts and bolts along the way. He was just not sure if the map Masaki was holding was leading them to the right place.

“Masaki, let me see the map,” Nino caught up after Masaki and tried to take a look on the map.

“No! You can’t see it!” Masaki, surprisingly, pulled the map away from Nino’s reach.

“Eh? Why?” Nino was alerted by then. He tried to snatch the map from Masaki’s hand.

“Look! Flying mushrooms!” Masaki exclaimed, pointing at the sky.

Nino used the opportunity that Masaki was distracted in his attempt of distracting Nino to try to snatch the map again from his hand. And he made it.

Nino ran away a bit farther from Masaki then opened the map he had in hand. His eyes grew wide when he read the destination point on the map. It's read, “The Castle”.

“Masaki? What castle are we going to?!” he shouted at Masaki who was still, distractedly, looking for the map.

“Ah!” Masaki exclaimed and ran to Nino’s direction, “give it back!”

“No,” Nino put the map behind his back, “what castle are we going to?”

“Our client’s castle!” Masaki insisted.

“Our client is in a castle?!” Nino exclaimed in surprise.

“Yes! Now give it back to me!” Masaki still insisted.

Nino hesitantly gave Masaki the map back. He started to regret his decision. Of course they will get paid a lot of money for plumbing matters, the plumbing matters were those of a castle!

Masaki took the map back and threw a triumphant smile. He was thankful Nino didn’t read the map more properly or he would have seen the small “Princess Peach is here” text under the “The Castle” text.

“Now let’s go! We have to arrive there before dark!” Masaki started walking again, following the map in his hand.

Nino had no other options but to follow reluctantly behind him.

~*~

The sun had started to shift to the west when Masaki said that they had reached their destination. Nino looked around and realized that they had been far away from their house, even from their kingdom. The forest was still surrounding them, and there was no sign of any living beings around.

“What do you mean arrive? I don’t see any castle at all,” Nino asked worriedly.

“We’ve arrived to the border of the kingdom, there will still be a long way from here to the castle,” Masaki replied, “but we can rest for a bit before we have to do some hard things.”

Nino was a bit alerted about what kind of hard things they would have to deal with, but then he remembered that they’re about to fix plumbings of a castle. That would surely be hard.

Masaki got food out of his rucksack and handed some to Nino. Nino didn’t feel like eating, actually. But he reminded himself that they had to do some serious jobs so he swallowed down the mushroom Masaki handed him. It tasted rather horrible, but Nino felt really good after eating it so he didn’t protest.

Just when they finished eating their food, there were weird voices from behind the bushes. Nino was alerted and he told Masaki to quickly pack his belongings and get ready to leave. Unfortunately for Nino, Masaki was always a clumsy guy and he had a tendency to drop some things when he’s rushed, making him need longer time to actually be ready.

Nino was just about to snatch the map from Masaki’s hand and led the way himself but then there were a lot of small creatures coming to their way. Those creatures looked like mushrooms but they could move and Nino swore he could see their hands. Nino didn’t know what to do at first until Masaki screamed from the other side, telling him to stomp on those creatures.

So Nino did, but the mushroom-like creatures kept coming in more amount than the amount he had killed.

“Masaki!” he screamed his brother’s name, tried to get some help.

“Nino! Come here! Run here! I found a closer way to the castle!” Masaki replied in a scream.

Nino stomped the last creatures that were the closest to his feet and ran away to Masaki’s voice. He almost freaked out when he didn’t see Masaki anywhere.

“Masaki!” he cried out again.

“Down here!” Masaki shouted back.

Nino looked down, and there was a hole on the ground. Masaki was in there already, waving at him.

“Come on, jump! This way is the closest to the castle, given the fact that we can’t use that other way anymore,” Masaki called Nino.

“But those creatures will be able to come here too, won’t they?” Nino asked a bit terrified, he was actually intimidated by the height.

“We can outrun them, they’re just small mushrooms, come on!” Masaki insisted, “We’re going to run out of time if you don’t hurry up.”

Nino looked back to behind him, to the colony of mushrooms, before taking a deep breath and jump into the hole. The hole was surprisingly not that deep. Nino felt like he was just jumping through a couple of stairs.

“Where are we?” Nino asked Masaki.

“On the gutter of the kingdom,” Masaki answered shortly, “come on, we have to keep moving.”

“What?!” Nino protested, “What are we doing here?”

“Going to the castle,” Masaki answered matter-of-fact-ly, kept going on his pace.

“Through the kingdom’s gutter?” Nino chased Masaki.

“I’ve told you, this is the only way!” Masaki insisted, not slowing down even for a second.

Nino grunted and followed Masaki since he didn’t have other options at the moment. They moved in the gutter for a good while without distraction, until Nino saw something moving not so far in front of them.

“Masaki, what are those?” he asked, fear started to creep on his spine.

Masaki squinted his eyes to see better. He froze on his feet for a second, but then continued walking casually.

“They seem dangerous but they’re actually not. Just don’t bump into them,” Masaki explained.

“And if I bump into them?” Nino started to regret following Masaki’s plan without knowing what it actually was.

“Just don’t,” Masaki answered, being completely not helpful.

They walked forward to those weird creatures and tried their best not to bump to them. They turned out to be creatures that looked like turtles, but uglier. And moved a tad bit faster.

Nino tried his best to not bump into those weird turtles while still keeping his pace to follow Masaki. Once he got cornered, so he tried his luck by jumping to the turtle’s back. The turtle got inside it’s house and slid over. He found it more fun and continued hopping from one turtle’s back to the other.

It wasn’t long until Nino got too occupied with jumping on turtles he didn’t realize they’re already reaching the exit of the pit. Masaki, who was waiting on the ladder of the pipe, had to call Nino for multiple times until he finally looked up to him. Once Nino saw Masaki, he stopped jumping over turtles and climbed the ladder to get out of the gutter.

“That was actually fun!” Nino said once they’re out of the gutter, “although I had no idea why my body felt so light and I feel stronger.”

“It’s the mushroom,” Masaki answered shortly, eyes focused to the map. His eyes grew big for a second and he mumbled something like ‘but it was supposed to be here!’ or something similar. Seemed like he had made a wrong turn somewhere on their way. It was a good thing Nino wasn’t really paying attention and stretched his body instead.

“Where are we going after this?” Nino asked.

“That way!” Masaki pointed, “I guess,” he added with a low voice.

“Okay, let’s go!” Nino led the way, still all high-spirited and steamed-up.

Masaki followed from behind him, still trying to make out the map direction. He rotated the map to the left and to the right, and he still didn’t find the correct path. He decided to then just follow his brother. Just like what he had always done his whole life.

Apparently, following his brother was a good decision to make because they started to see the castle building even though it was still far. At least they’re heading to the right way, Masaki thought, and folded the map to put it back to his rucksack.

As they got closer to the castle, there were also weird creatures that they had met before. Thanks to the power of the mushroom, Nino could beat them all with ease.

Finally, they reached the gate of the castle. The guardians of the gate let them in easily when Masaki told them about their purpose. They squinted their eyes in suspicion for a second, but then let them in.

They walked inside the castle, across a huge fountain right in the middle of the castle, until they entered the main building and met the king. They were a little surprised that the king looked a little bit small in physique, even though he tried to look intimidating with his clothes and expression.

“Who are you and what are you guys doing here?” the king asked coolly.

“Your Majesty, these people right here said that they are plumbers from Mushroom Kingdom and they want to,” one of their guards answered the king but was cut by Masaki.

“We’re here to take our Princess Peach back.”

“What?!” the king and Nino exclaimed at the same time.

“Are you trying to humiliate me?!” the king suddenly went furious.

“What do you mean, Masaki?!” Nino, felt more shocked than furious, demanded explanation from his brother.

“I might look small and girly but I am no princess, young men,” the king added.

“I’m sorry, King - I’m sorry, I don’t know your name - and I think we have a misunderstanding here,“ Nino tried to make the king calm down, while still glaring dangerously at Masaki.

“What do you mean you don’t know my name?!” the king got even more furious, “you mean you don’t know me?! The Great King Chinen Yuri of the Iron Kingdom?!”

Masaki jumped on his feet.

“Wait! I’m sorry!” Masaki exclaimed, “I was wrong! Princess Peach is not in the Iron Kingdom! She must be in another castle!”

Nino looked at his brother disbelievingly. They just made a king angry and he simply reasoned that they got the wrong castle?

“What do you mean wrong castle?! Don’t fool around with me!” King Chinen stood on his feet, getting more and more furious with the two men in front of him.

“Please... Please forgive my brother, Your Majesty! He’s a bit lunatic and I seriously don’t understand what he’s talking about!” Nino said while bowing deeply to the king.

“Lunatic or not, he has humiliated me, The Almighty King Chinen Yuri of the Iron Kingdom. People who humiliated ME don’t get to go out of this kingdom alive!”

Nino saw how the guardians of the king came closer to them, trying to trap them in the middle. He grabbed Masaki by his arm and, quickly, he ducked down to dodge those guardians and ran away.

Leaving King Chinen Yuri of Iron Kingdom angry behind them. He ordered his guardians to chase over them while throwing profanities in between his sentences.

Of course Nino was faster and smarter so he hid in a corner while waiting for the guardians to pass before running to a completely different way.

~*~

“What the hell?!” Nino leashed his anger once they’re out of the castle, safe, once again, inside the depth of the forest.

“I’m sorry, Nino,” Masaki pant.

“What the hell are you thinking?! I don’t remember saying yes to a journey to save a princess!” Nino yelled.

“I’m sorry, Nino,” Masaki repeated.

“Now let’s go home! We have to make up the time we’ve spent for nothing!” Nino walked away from Masaki.

“We can’t!” Masaki exclaimed, made Nino stop on his track.

“What?!”

“I... have traded our house... for this map and our supply for the journey...,” Masaki said with a small tone.

“WHAT?!” Nino almost strangled Masaki for that confession.

Masaki looked at his feet, avoiding Nino’s glare.

“Masaki what do you mean you traded our house with those?” Nino tried to calm himself down, because, his brother can’t be serious, right?

“I... I met this woman on Mushroom Kingdom, she said her name is Okubo, or something,“ Masaki answered slowly, “She said she could help me if I want to save Princess Peach.”

Nino took a deep breath and counted to ten. Of course. Give it to Masaki to randomly believe all kinds of strangers he happened to meet on his way.

“But she said it wasn’t for free, so I tried to offer her the money I had with me,” Masaki lifted his face, “but she said it wasn’t enough so I took her to our house, then she said even our house won’t be enough to be traded with what she had, but I insisted her.”

Nino shook his head in disbelief. His brother could be highly troublesome sometimes.

“Although, it wasn’t her fault we got to the wrong castle,” Masaki’s voice went smaller.

“What do you mean?” Nino asked.

“I... kind of... misread the map...?” Masaki confessed.

“What? Masaki! You!” Nino went speechless.

“I’m sorry, Nino, I didn’t mean to...,” Masaki looked like he almost cried, “but at least, we can continue our journey and really bring Princess Peach home?”

“But how?” Nino was exasperated. He had run out of ideas and energy to actually take a good decision.

“I think we can try to get to that castle?” Masaki lifted his hand and pointed to behind Nino.

Nino looked back. Masaki was right. There was a castle that way. It wasn’t near, but it wasn’t unreachable either.

“We have to spend the night here on the forest, though,” Nino said. He started to accept the situation. They were homeless, they had no money. Saving the princess would be the only way to be able to continue living. Besides, marrying the princess and being a king didn’t sound so bad.

~*~

It was on the break of dawn when Nino and Masaki started their journey again. Masaki went a little bit whiny that time, didn’t want to continue the journey when the sun hadn’t even risen, but Nino insisted to go as fast as they could. If they’re going to make a journey to save a princess, they had to do it properly, Nino said.

So they walked through the depth and darkness of the forest to go to the other castle. They met the creatures they saw on the other kingdom, but because it was still early in the morning those creatures barely attacked them. They could easily kicked them away of the road to continue the journey.

Even though they departed when the sky was still practically dark, it was midday when they finally reached the castle. They got inside with the same reason they used before, ‘come to fix the plumbings’, and managed to fool the guardians yet again.

Once they were in, they were brought to the main building of the castle, just like before. They saw a young guy, who was supposed to be the king, with a beautiful woman beside him, who was probably his queen.

“We didn’t call for plumbers,” the king began the conversation, “who are you and what are you doing in my castle?”

“Where’s Princess Peach?” Nino asked directly, not wanting to waste any more time.

Surprisingly, hearing that question, the woman who sat beside the king burst out crying. She sobbed and wailed and cursed, made everyone on the room jump in surprise.

“No! Ryoko honey!” the king got panic and hugged his wife.

“Yu.. Yuuto san,” the queen whimpered and hugged his husband back.

“How dare you mention about princess in front of The Queen!” the king said angrily.

Nino and Masaki looked at each other confusedly. The queen’s act was weird, and the king’s was weirder.

“There is no princess in this castle!” the king continued, “even if there’s one, I’d protect her with everything I have so people won’t have to go looking for her! Guards, throw these people out. Or better yet, throw them into the jail and prepare the death penalty!”

Nino didn’t need another second to grab Masaki’s hand and ran away from the castle.

~*~

Nino kept running while holding Masaki’s wrist without looking back even once. He slowed down once they got inside the forest, again, and stopped when he was sure that the guards had completely lost them. He let go of Masaki’s hand and turned back, ready to scold his brother.

“Nino... I’m really sorry,” Masaki said first, “although, I don’t understand why they had to throw us out like that.”

“The queen probably has some problem and can’t have kids. But I don’t know either,” Nino answered, not very angry then when he saw Masaki’s almost crying face.

They stood there in silent for a good time, didn’t know what to say and what to do.

“Ne, Masaki,” Nino said after quite a while, “tell me, is this princess pretty?”

Masaki was baffled for a second when he heard the question, but being a good brother that he was, he reached into his rucksack and pulled out a piece of parchment. It was a picture of the princess, given by Okubo san with all the things in the rucksack. She said that it was the best picture of her she could find, drawn by the best artist of the kingdom. He gave the picture to Nino to let him see for himself.

Nino received the picture and took a good look of it. He drew a long breath in and exhaled it out. His expression was unreadable.

“Why are you asking?” Masaki carefully asked his brother.

Nino looked at Masaki again, still holding the piece of parchment on his hand.

“I’ve said it, right? If we’re going to rescue a princess, we have to do it properly,” Nino paused to took another deep breath, “I just wanted to make sure that this will be actually worth it, and Masaki, I think I just fell in love.”

~*~

After the earth-shaking confession that Nino did earlier, he somehow found new source of energy to continue the journey. He told Masaki to stay on his place while he looked around to look for another castle. When he finally saw one not so far away, he returned to where Masaki was and told Masaki to continue their journey to there.

Nino was high-spirited that Masaki was thankful that he wouldn’t need to use the supply he had from Okubo san. She said the things were powerful and strong and Masaki was only allowed to use that in an emergency. Masaki broke the promise once by giving the mushroom to Nino earlier on their journey so they were a little short in supply. That’s why he was really thankful that Nino seemed to be not needing the extra power for the time being.

When they reached the third castle, it was already dark. They still used the same reason to be allowed to enter the castle, and the guardians, not so surprisingly, let them enter.

They met the king who sat on his throne like he was, well, a king. He had some beautiful servants around him. One was holding a plate of food and the other one a tray with wine bottle and a glass. He seemed pretty much like he was enjoying himself when Nino and Masaki entered the room. He didn’t even pay much attention when the guard told him about their presence.

Feeling a bit envious because the king seemed very comfortable and happy, and the fact that he might be having Princess Peach as his prisoner, Nino threw a piercing look to the king and yelled, “where is Princess Peach?!”

The king was startled by that and sat up straightly. He looked at Nino, observing him from head to toe, then, instead of answering Nino’s question, he told his servants to go.

“That’s enough, Yokoko, Nishikiko, you’re dismissed for today,” he said, waving his hand.

“Hai, Maruyama sama,” they replied in sync before bowing down and left.

“I asked, where is Princess Peach?!” Nino repeated his question, felt more angry then when the king didn’t answer right away. Masaki patted his back to try to calm him down.

“Calm down, little man,” the king replied, “Princess Peach is upstairs, asleep and well.”

Nino squinted his eyes, feeling suspicious.

“I know you want to take her back with you, right?” the king added, “what if I give you a place to stay tonight and we discuss about my condition about it tomorrow?”

“What condition?!” Nino replied abruptly.

“Calm down, little man, I said tomorrow,” the king raised his tone, “I can give you a place to stay for the night and we can discuss it tomorrow. Why do I have to repeat my words?” he sighed dramatically.

“Why would I want to stay here tonight?” Nino hissed.

The king laughed at Nino’s question, “you have nowhere else to stay, right? You stay here tonight and you can take your princess home tomorrow, with some conditions, of course.”

“Why can’t I take her now?!” Nino cut.

“Or,” the king continued, raising one of his eyebrows in annoyance, “I’ll tell the guards that you’re disturbing me and I want you to be fed to my lions in my dungeon.”

“Nino, I think it’ll be best if we take the offer,” Masaki whispered.

“But this guy’s so suspicious,” Nino whispered back.

“But we have nowhere else to stay,” Masaki insisted, “besides, what can we do even if we have Princess Peach now? We don’t even know the way to go home. And I don’t want to be fed to lions,” Masaki added quickly.

Nino sighed. His brother had a point. Besides, why would this king lie to them about the princess and offer them to stay?

“Okay then,” Nino answered the king, “but you better not lie about Princess Peach’s presence here.”

The king laughed, “why would I lie and give two shabby men like you guys a shelter to stay for the night if I don’t really have her? Okura, take them to the guest room,” he ordered the closest guard from him.

Nino and Masaki looked at each other and followed the guard to their room.

~*~

“Subaru, make sure you tell Yokoko to keep them inside their room until noon at least,” Maruyama said to the other guard beside him, who bowed obediently and quickly go to inform the servant.

“Too bad that I don’t have any princess here, little man, probably your princess is in another castle,” Maruyama giggled, “let’s just forget about her and you can be my princess instead,” he laughed viciously.

~*~

Nino paced around the room. It was noon already and there were no signs that they’ll meet Princess Peach soon. The only woman they got to meet was one of the king’s servant, who said her name was Yokoko and told them to enjoy their stay.

Nino didn’t want to enjoy their stay. He had been restless from the previous night, feeling himself unable to sleep thinking about Princess Peach. It was wicked how a single hand-drawn picture could made him fall in love that instantly. He hadn’t stopped thinking about her ever since. The fact that the king wouldn’t let him meet her made him anxious and worried the whole night.

“Nino, why don’t you sit down?” Masaki called him, bringing him back from his daydream.

“Masaki, I think there’s something wrong with this castle,” Nino said instead.

Masaki looked at Nino confusedly.

“Why wouldn’t he let us meet Princess Peach already? I start to wonder that probably the princess is not here and he’s just making up a story,” Nino explained.

“But why?” Masaki asked.

“I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to find out. But how..,” Nino continued walking around the room.

Suddenly, faintly, he heard some voices from outside the room. Women voices. He quietly walked closer to the door and listened carefully.

“Why are we keeping them here?” a woman asked.

“Well, you don’t hear this from me, but, I think Maru likes the small guy,” another woman, who Nino was sure was Yokoko, answered.

“What?! That’s obscene!” the first woman exclaimed in surprise.

“Sshhh! They could hear you,” Yokoko shushed her, “you don’t hear this from me, okay, but Maru lied about the princess orange they were looking for and even gave them a place to stay. What else do you think he wants?”

“It’s Peach,” Nino hissed, then quickly closed his mouth with his hand.

“Masaki, I need to tell you something,” Nino walked quickly to the other side of the room where Masaki was having his meal obliviously.

Nino told him about the conversation and his plan to run away. He told Masaki to gather his belonging and get ready so they could be ready to run away whenever the room’s door was opened.

Masaki did as he was told reluctantly. He was feeling comfortable with the king’s treatment and imagining another journey across a forest or gutter or whatever else made him a little bit frustrated. He managed to put everything back into his rucksack in time, though. Just right before the door was opened and Yokoko waltzed in with another batch of food.

They ran out of the room as fast as they could and Nino magically found the way out of the castle. Their journey wasn’t over yet.

~*~

“They WHAT?!” Maruyama said furiously to Yokoko.

“I’m sorry, Maruyama sama,” Yokoko bowed deeply.

“You don’t,” Maruyama grunted.

“Subaru, prepare the punishment room for Yokoko! She needs to be taught how huge the mistake she has made,” Maruyama hissed furiously.

~*~

Nino ran and ran like his life was depended on it. Well, his life _was_ depended on it, it’s not every day that you found out that a king liked you. Nino ran faster when his brain tickled him with a possibility that the king wanted him to be his queen. He kept running and running, not caring if the guards were still chasing them or not. He kept going forward until he found an obstacle for both him and his brother, a lake so broad it almost seemed like the ocean.

“Wait. I think I have seen something like this before,” Masaki looked around him, astonished. This couldn’t be right, he thought, as he pulled the map out of his rucksack.

“What’s wrong?” Nino asked a bit breathlessly. He didn’t even realize that he had run out of breath while running away.

Masaki observed the map on his hand seriously, pointing the lake with his hand then back to the map again, then looked around then back to the map again. He pointed one point on the map then looked around again.

“There it is! That must be it!” he saw something in a distance and walked that way.

Nino followed him. He didn’t quite understand what Masaki was doing, but he hoped that it was something good. It had to be something good.

Masaki stopped in front of a huge tree and pointed it, then he looked around and a smile suddenly showed up on his face. He turned his head around to look for Nino and gestured Nino to come over when he saw him.

“What do you find?” Nino asked impatiently.

“Princess Peach is across this lake,” Masaki answered, his smile had turned into grin.

“How do you know?” Nino found himself still doubtful about his brother.

“The map,” Masaki waved it in front of Nino, “it said that the castle is across a great lake. We have to take the stone bridge that can be found sixteen steps from the biggest tree around.”

Nino looked at the tree and around. Masaki was right, the tree was the biggest around. He then looked at the stone bridge not so far away from them.

“That bridge?” Nino pointed.

Masaki nodded and started walking from the tree to the bridge.

“It’s exactly sixteen steps!” he exclaimed and clapped his hands happily when he reached the bridge.

Nino followed him, counted his own steps. It was indeed exactly sixteen steps. Although it’s a bit weird since his brother’s steps were wider than his. Probably his brother took short steps, he decided.

“We have to go across this bridge,” Masaki explained, “there will be obstacles, the map said, although I’m not sure what.”

“Let’s just find out,” Nino stepped on the bridge.

Masaki followed his brother closely behind, didn’t want to be left. He felt worried because the map said that there would be some obstacle that they would meet on the way. Okubo san didn’t mention anything about the river though. The only thing Masaki remembered was she said that they better stay away from the lake and found another route instead.

There was no other route that they could take, Masaki argued in his head. He kept his eyes glued on his brother’s back while observing their surrounding. The stone bridge looked completely fine actually, but he still felt worried because of Okubo san’s words. Just what did she mean when she told him to stay away from the bridge?

The answer showed up almost instantly in front of them. Nino suddenly stopped on his track, making Masaki stop too. Nino made an annoyed sound. Masaki looked to the track in front of them. The bridge was broken in the middle, there was nothing but water in front of them, and other end of the bridge was on quite a distance.

“I think we have to swim across this,” Nino made a decision and lowered himself to the water.

“Watch out!” Masaki exclaimed, pointed at a small creature that looked like squid floating near the bridge’s end.

“Whoops, here comes another weird creature,” Nino stood back up, “they don’t look really dangerous, though, and slow.”

“Look like so,” Masaki agreed, “so we swim quickly?”

“We swim quickly,” Nino agreed and jumped to the water.

They swam, made some maneuver when needed to avoid the squids which happened to start chasing them once they saw them. Nino and Masaki swam faster and faster, and finally they made it to the other end of the bridge. They got out of the water and exchanged looks of relief.

The castle was already visible from where they were right then, and Nino felt a wave of spirit rushing through his blood. He stood up and walked fast on the stone bridge, forgot that he had to keep his awareness of the surroundings. Nino didn’t see it when a flying fish jumped out of the water beside the bridge and almost hit him. All he knew was Masaki suddenly pushed him until he was lying, face down, on the bridge.

“What was that for?” he scolded his brother.

“There was a flying fish!” Masaki told him.

“What? Stop with the flying creature joke!” Nino scolded Masaki more.

“I’m not joking! Look!” Masaki pointed above them.

Nino looked up, and this time, Masaki was right. There was a fish flying above them. That fish seemed to jump from the right side of the bridge to the left side.

“Whoa that’s dangerous,” Nino commented.

They finally made it to the lakeside by crawling their way on the bridge. Once Nino was sure that they were free from the flying-fish threat, he stood up and looked around. The castle was finally just a short walk distance away from them. He started walking to the castle’s direction, followed by his brother’s careful steps behind him.

It didn’t take too much time for them to reach the gate of the castle. A guard was in front of the gate. He was alone, unlike on the other castle where the guards were on a group. Although, like any other guards they had met, this one also stopped them when they was about to enter the gate.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” the guard asked them.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Nino returned the question mockingly.

“My name is Okamoto Keito and I am the guard of this castle,” he answered seriously.

“Well my name is Nino, and this is my brother, Masaki,” Nino pointed to his side, “and we’re plumbers. We’re called by your king to fix the plumbings on this castle,” Nino used their foolproof reason.

“My king never called for any plumbers, you’re lying,” the guard pointed his spear to them.

“Look! Flying mushrooms!” Masaki suddenly exclaimed.

The guard looked up, distracted by Masaki’s sudden words. Nino saw it and used the chance to pulled the spear from the guard’s grip and hit him with the back of it. The guard fell down to the ground right away, unconscious.

“I can’t believe someone actually fell for that,” Nino looked at Masaki, amused.

Masaki just grinned in response.

They walked inside the castle freely after knocking down the guard. Heading to the main building to confront the king, they were surprised when they were ambushed by two men with scary faces. Or more likely, cute faces with trying-to-be-scary expressions.

“Who are you guys and what are you doing here?” one of them, the smaller one from the two, asked them.

Nino groaned on hearing that question.

“Dude, wouldn’t it be more polite of you if you start it by introducing yourselves first?” Nino said exasperatedly.

The two men in front of them exchanged glances then turned their faces back to them.

“What do you mean you don’t know us?” the taller of the two spoke with a raised tone.

“And what are you doing in our castle anyway?” the shorter one added.

It was Nino and Masaki’s turn to exchange glances then. The two men in front of them looked pretty intimidating, and after seeing Masaki’s pleading eyes, Nino decided to go for a more diplomatic approach.

“I’m terribly sorry for being rude, but I really have no idea who you guys are. But here, I am Nino, this is my brother Masaki, we’re plumbers, and we’re here to,” Nino swallowed, “save Princess Peach,” he decided to tell them directly.

The two men seemed startled on the mention of Princess Peach. They threw a synchronized “what?!” then put their hand on their belts. Nino stole a quick glance and he saw the handle of a sword on each of their belts.

“I’m Takaki, one of the most wanted thieves in this kingdom,” the taller man introduced himself.

“And I’m Yamada Ryosuke,” the shorter man added.

“He looks like the queen who burst out crying from earlier, don’t you think?” Masaki whispered to Nino.

Nino shushed him immediately, although he also agreed on what Masaki said. They looked so alike it was ridiculous.

“Your Princess Peach is with our king, Yaotome Hikaru,” Takaki explained, “but if you want to meet them, you have to get through us first,” he drew his sword. Yamada followed suit.

Nino went panic and drew the only weapon he always had with him. His firm, strong, and trustworthy wrench. He dodged to the side when Takaki and Yamada attacked, pulling his brother with him. Nino didn’t see it when Masaki fished something from his rucksack and hit it to his body. All he knew was he suddenly felt powerful and strong. And invincible.

Nino stood up firmly again when both men were coming with their swords. He caught one sword with his wrench when Takaki swung it, then moved his wrench to the right, making the sword fell with a loud clank. Then he went straight to Yamada with his wrench and attacked him. He dodged Yamada’s sword and kicked his balls. Yamada dropped his sword in agony, and Nino hit Yamada’s head with his wrench. Yamada jerked up for a second, then lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Meanwhile Masaki was trying to distract Takaki by pointing out the flying mushrooms randomly. Takaki looked up to every direction Masaki pointed at first, but then he realized that he was being fooled and started to chase Masaki. His sword was already gripped firmly in his hand again.

Nino saw that and took the chance that Takaki was distracted by chasing his brother to also chased him from behind, making three of them run around the room. Nino finally caught up Takaki’s speed when Masaki slowed down because of his tiredness. He swung his wrench hard to the back of Takaki’s head, making him fall to the ground like his comrade, unconscious.

“Come on, Masaki! We have to go fast!” Nino gestured Masaki to hurry and follow him to the main building of the castle.

Masaki followed Nino from behind as they went straight to the biggest building in the castle. The main building looked empty, not even a guard was seemed to be around.

Once they arrived at the main building, Nino carefully pushed the door in front of him. It made a small creaking sound and Nino almost jumped because of that but he kept going on. Nino held his wrench more tightly in his hand while Masaki held his rucksack.

The door was opened completely and they walked in. Their eyes almost popped out when they saw what was going on inside. There was a long table in the middle of the room. Princess Peach was sitting on one end of it, and there was a man sitting on the other end. They seemed to be engrossed in a serious conversation.

Nino walked closer to them since it seemed like none of them realized their presence. He kept moving until he could hear their conversation.

“Right? And I looove your dress very much! They won’t let me wear one around, though, I wonder why,” the man said to Princess Peach.

“You’re the king, of course they won’t let you wear one,” Princess Peach replied with a laugh.

The man, whom Nino suspected to be the king named Yaotome that the guards were talking about, giggled when he heard Princess Peach’s answer.

“Well I am the king, but they won’t even let me wear dress even when I’m doing nothing in here,” Yaotome mumbled, “but I reaaaally want to wear dress, Peach, I want to look pretty!” he sported a pout.

Nino raised his brow. He wasn’t sure that this was what he had expected. He cleared his throat to try to get the attention of both Princess Peach and King Yaotome.

King Yaotome heard that and jerked his head on Nino’s direction.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?!” he asked with a deep, manly voice, completely different than the voice he used before.

“Here we go again,” Nino grunted. He felt sick of the question already. He took a deep breath before answering, “my name is Nino and this is my brother Masaki, we are from the Mushroom Kingdom.”

“Mushroom Kingdom?” Princess Peach cut him, “so I guess you’re here to bring me home?”

“Yees?” Nino found himself unsure of his own answer.

“Well, Hikaru kun, it’s been fun,” Princess Peach stood up, “but I guess it’s time for me to go home.”

“Ah, I see,” Yaotome stood up too, getting ready to escort Princess Peach outside.

Nino and Masaki looked at each other, dumbfounded. What does that mean?

“You could always send me letters after this, Hikaru kun. I would love to hear from you sometimes. And taking this,” Princess Peach circled her finger on the guys before them, “into account, seems like I won’t be able to visit anytime soon.”

“I see that very well,” Yaotome nodded, “I’ll tell Okubo san to lift the curses up and restore the condition of your kingdom, then,” he pulled Princess Peach’s hand to kiss it.

“Yes, please,” Princess Peach said with a smile, “also, I believe these men right here might have knocked your guards down, do we need to do something about that?”

Yaotome scoffed, “that’s fine, those idiots have super self-healing. They’ll be okay soon,” he waved his hand.

“Well then,” Princess Peach turned his body to Nino and Masaki’s direction, “young men,” she bowed, “please take me home.”

Nino and Masaki bowed too in response although they still hadn’t grasped what’s going on.

“Your carriage is ready, Princess,” Yaotome said, “you can use it for the journey home.”

“Thank you very much for the kindness, Hikaru kun,” Princess Peach replied, “let’s go, young men,” she gestured Nino and Masaki to follow her.

Nino and Masaki followed the princess, still dumbfounded, to the said carriage. They got in as Princess Peach bade Yaotome goodbye.

“Thank you very much for your help, Hikaru kun,” Princess Peach said again for the last time before got into the carriage.

“The pleasure is mine, Princess,” Yaotome waved his hand and the carriage departed to Mushroom Kingdom.

~*~

“I think I owe you guys some explanations,” Princess Peach broke the lingering awkward silence on the carriage.

Nino looked up to the princess’ face as if he was saying, ‘you don’t say, Princess?’

“First and foremost,” she started, “my actual name is Sho. Peach is just a name I normally use outside the castle because the name Sho is too manly for a princess name.”

“What?” Nino asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” she continued, “my father, the king, has been looking for a prince candidate to be married with me and prepared to be the future king. But I don’t like most of the guys he had brought along, and the rest of the guys don’t like me.”

Princess Peach, or Sho, as she had said, explained more about how he managed to make a plan to find himself a good man to be married with, and someone whom his father would agree on. She told the story on how he had met Yaotome Hikaru and his friends, and she liked his idea. She assured them. She herself had met Okubo san, who turned out to be a witch, and made her swear for her life that the people of Mushroom Kingdom would be all right even after they’d been cursed.

Nino listened to the whole story with his mouth gaped, still couldn’t believe himself. On the other hand, Masaki, who was sitting beside him, listened actively, sometimes nodding his head or exclaimed ‘Oh!’ when he found something amusing. Nino felt that something must be wrong but he couldn’t pinpoint what. They kept listening to Princess Sho’s story until they reached the gate of Mushroom Kingdom’s castle.

“Stay here for a while, okay, I need to say something to my parents first,” she said quickly when they reached inside the castle. She jumped of the carriage energetically, leaving puzzled Nino and Masaki inside.

“What do you think she’s up to?” Nino uttered his first words since they got in the carriage.

“Probably preparing your prize and everything,” Masaki answered with apparent amusement on his face.

Nino leaned back to his seat and sighed. The princess was beautiful, he had no doubt about it. She’s even more beautiful than how she looked in the picture, the one that made him fall in love instantly. However, Nino felt something was off with the princess, besides of her antics that just made the whole kingdom as stones. There was this annoying thing about the princess that he couldn’t say out loud.

Drowned in his thoughts, Nino didn’t see it when some guards came to escort them inside.

~*~

“Oh my God! My son! You’re back!” Queen Mao exclaimed in joy when she saw Sho walked into the room. She stumbled a bit when she ran down from the throne to embrace her son who was standing in the middle of the room.

King Jun looked like he tried his hardest to not follow his wife's actions. He was the king, after all, he couldn’t just burst out crying and run to hug his son in front of all his subordinates. He took a long, deep breath instead.

“Welcome home, son, we’ve been looking for you,” King Jun said after he was able to put his emotion in check.

“We’re really worried about you!” Queen Mao said, patting her son’s back after releasing him from the hug, “and where’s your savior? We need to reward him. Right, Jun?” she glanced over to the king.

“That’s correct,” King Jun affirmed, “why are they not here yet?”

“Before everything else, Mom, Dad,” Sho suddenly spoke, “I need to tell you that my savior had no idea that I’m a man and I want to keep it that way.”

“Eeeh? Why?” Queen Mao blurted out in surprise.

“I have my own reason, mother,” Sho took his mother’s hand and kissed the back of it to assure her.

“Are you sure?” King Jun asked, “he’s going to marry you. He has to know at least that, that you’re actually a man.”

“I’m sure, father,” Sho stated, “and I have a hunch that he’ll actually don’t mind.”

Queen Mao turned his head to look at his husband’s face. This was not what they planned for. They knew it was wrong when they had to declare that their “Princess” was missing and whoever saved “her” would get to marry “her” and be crowned king to be King Matsumoto Jun's successor. But they already had another plan in their minds, that they would tell whoever the savior that their Princess was actually a Prince and that they wouldn’t have to get married if the savior didn’t want to.

King Jun sighed. This is what happened when you have a son who was so fond of cross-dressing and the idea of being a princess, he thought, rubbing his temple. This is what happened, a headache, as he sat back down on his throne.

Queen Mao saw the frustration on her husband’s face and walked back to comfort him. King’s frustration usually didn’t lead to good things, so she had to do something before anything bad happen.

“My dear,” she said as she sat down on her throne beside the king’s, “I think it’s okay? You don’t have to worry.”

“Yeah? You think so? What if this- whoever this person is, the savior, find it out later that Sho’s a man after the marriage and run away because of that? You say it’s okay to have a king that will possibly run away when he see that his queen is actually a man?” King Jun replied sourly.

“Then let him run away and I’ll be the king,” Sho joined the conversation.

“Like hell you would,” King Jun scoffed.

“I would,” Sho answered almost too quickly. He had been keeping it within himself, but it had been a long time and he finally had the guts to say it out loud, “don’t you get it dad? I’ve been telling you that I would be king. It was you who kept pestering me with all those ‘king candidates’ of yours, which, sorry to say, were no good at all!”

King Jun almost stood up in anger but Queen Mao quickly held his hand in an attempt to calm him down.

“Because you said that you don’t want to marry a woman! How would this kingdom be without a queen?” King Jun asked angrily.

“I could be both king and queen. Problem solved,” Sho shrugged, “and I could make a petition or election to choose the next king after me so I don’t have to find a way to have kids on my own. Then everything is set.”

King Jun was baffled by that. It was the first time he heard his son said such thing about his future. His son surely had different vision as a king than he was, not to mention that his vision was really bizarre.

“It’s not as easy as that, young man,” King Jun warned his son. He was happy that he could finally hear something as serious as that coming from his son, but he was also worried.

“I know, and why should you care? I’d be the one who will have to go through that anyway, not you,” Sho argued.

“Just let him be, Jun,” Queen Mao squeezed King Jun’s hand. She had predicted this would happen. Sho had never been fond of the idea of the future that was planned out for him. She knew that he had always wanted something else.

King Jun took a deep breath and looked at his wife. She must have known this for long. If Sho hadn’t told them, then she must have found out some way. And seeing her, she seemed to have thought about this matter. He’d just talk with her later about it then. They had important guests waiting anyway.

“If that’s what you think then... Do as you please,” King Jun surrendered, “guards, bring them in.”

~*~

On the day of Nino and Princess Peach’s marriage, the whole kingdom was drowned in a celebration. The wedding ceremony was held on the castle, and some of the kingdom’s people were gathering outside the castle. They all wore their best clothes, celebrating the biggest event of the year. They brought presents for Nino and Princess Peach. They queued nicely outside the gate, waiting for it to be opened and for their chance to enter and give the happy couple their presents.

Some of the others who couldn’t join the celebration outside the castle were busy celebrating in front of their houses. Some celebrated in a group, some celebrated alone. Some celebrated on the field, some got out to the street and made a parade. Everyone was happy.

They had also decorated the houses and streets with all sorts of decoration for the special day. Colorful ribbons were seen above the streets. Pretty flowers were decorating the doors of houses. Some even painted mushrooms with rainbow color to put on in front of the house.

There was also cheerful music heard from one corner of the kingdom. The musicians of the kingdom had decided to join in the celebration too, apparently. They joined the parade on the street, making more people followed behind them with joy.

Meanwhile, inside the castle, Nino was waiting giddily on his room. He was already in his suit, all crisp and handsome. Masaki was there until a while ago, accompanying him as the best man, until he got called for something related to the ceremony Nino didn’t really understand what.

After waiting for what felt like forever, Nino was called to the chapel. They’re going to have the ceremony there. Nino walked with heart as light as a feather to meet the princess. His princess.

He watched in awe as Princess Peach, or Sho, as she said it was her real name, walked the aisle. She looked dazzling on her wedding dress. Her dress was pink, like her other dresses, but this one was exceptionally stunning. She looked gorgeous beyond words in that and Nino was baffled. He could only watch even when she finally stood beside him. Nino held his breath when the officiator began the ceremony. He glanced slightly to his side, seeking assurance that it was really happening.

~*~

Their wedding night was approaching after the long wedding day and Nino was so excited. He was tired after all the ceremonial stuffs and the things after that, where they received presents from people of the kingdom. He had to stand for more than four hours and had to put his best smiling face for all the people to see, of course he was tired. Sho didn’t look as tired, though. She seemed so excited on greeting those people. So pretty, so princess-like, Nino thought, exactly what made him feel excited about the night.

Nino turned the handle of the room’s door where he’s going to have his wedding night with the princess. His princess. She had gone to the room before him, saying something about ‘getting ready’. Although, when Nino entered the room, she was still in her wedding dress, sitting in front of the dressing table inside the room.

“Hey,” Nino called as he walked closer to the princess. He had closed the door behind him, repeatedly making sure that he’d locked it, about five times, before he approached her.

The princess turned her face to see Nino and smiled. He gestured Nino to come closer.

“Please sit on the bed, I have something to tell you first before anything else,” she said while smiling.

Nino felt like something punched his stomach. What is Sho going to talk about? That like her capture, this wedding was fake too? That she had decided that she didn’t really like Nino and wanted to call the marriage off? Is that even possible?

Sho saw the look on Nino’s eyes and said, “don’t worry, I won’t cancel the marriage,” like she was able to tell what Nino had been thinking. Well I won’t be the one canceling it, if ever, Sho continued inside his head.

Nino came and sat down on the bed like he was told to, still felt worried even though the princess had tried to convince him. What does one want to talk about on a wedding night? Couldn’t it have waited until the next day or later? It had to be something really serious if it couldn’t.

After Nino had sat down properly on the bed, looked all calm and comfortable, Sho started the conversation. Or the not conversation. He wiped the makeup off his face, showing Nino his real face, and when he was done with it, he pulled all his hair clips and took his wig off.

“Wait, what is this?” Nino asked with horror in his voice.

“Well, as you can see,” Sho put the wig down before facing Nino properly again and continued, “I’m actually a man.”

“You’re actually a what?!” Nino shouted, his face pale and his eyes as wide as a pair of saucers.

~*~

Nino sat on the bed alone, waiting for Sho to finish showering. It had been a month since their wedding day, a month since that dreadful night, as Nino had called it.

Nino was taken aback big time that night. Of course, who wouldn’t have when he was suddenly told that the princess he just married was actually a prince? He refused to sleep on the same bed with Sho after that particular undesired event, heading off to Masaki’s room in the middle of the night to seek for refuge. He ended up pestering Masaki after that, grumbling and ranting on how he hadn’t seen it before. When Masaki admitted that he had actually seen it coming, he stopped talking to Masaki at all.

It wasn’t the fact that Sho was a man that disturbed Nino the most, it was the fact that Sho was a man and Nino still felt the same way to him after he knew it. It’s not normal, he told Masaki the day after. It’s not normal to fall for a person thinking that he was a woman and still feel the same after knowing that he was a man, Nino said. Masaki just replied to that saying ‘what if it wasn’t?’ And Nino shut up again, couldn’t find the answer to that question. Yeah, what’s so wrong if it’s not normal anyway, he thought to himself.

It took a week for Nino to finally gave in and talked to Sho again. By that time Sho was already prepared to take over the kingdom as king, assuming that Nino wouldn’t be back after being deceived in that way. Although Sho was actually disappointed, if he had to admit it out loud. And sad. He had been attracted to Nino since he saw him walking in to the castle to save him, and he trusted him enough to come as he was in front of him after their marriage was held. Apparently, Nino wasn’t different from other men he’d met that ran away after knowing that he was a man. It of course surprised him in a delightful manner when Nino came to him and said that he wouldn’t mind. He wouldn’t mind even if Sho was a man, he loved him anyway. Sho felt as if he was the luckiest man in the world that day.

It had been three weeks after that, Nino had finally agreed to have their long-postponed wedding night. He didn’t want to do it at first, because however he felt towards Sho, it still came out wrong in his mind if he had to do it with him. He had no idea how he was supposed to do it with a man anyway.

The sound of a door’s lock being opened snapped Nino out of his daydream. This is it, he thought. Ready or not, this is going to be it, he sat up more straightly as he waited for Sho to get out of the bathroom in expectation. It had felt like forever when Sho peeked out of the bathroom.

“Oh you’re still there,” he said in relief, “I heard nothing outside and I thought you have run away again.”

Nino chuckled nervously on that, and stopped completely when he saw Sho.

Standing in front of the bathroom door.

In a woman’s lingerie.

A pink set of a woman’s lingerie.

Pink.

And frilly.

“You don’t like it?” Sho asked, worried to see Nino froze on the bed with shock on his face as Sho walked closer to the bed.

Nino gaped and swallowed, his mouth suddenly felt so dry.

“You look... pretty,” Nino breathed out finally.

“I’m always pretty, I’m the prettiest,” Sho replied with a cute giggle.

“Come here,” Nino scooted on the bed to give space for Sho to sit in.

And Sho did as he was told.


End file.
